cline

Went to a gym tonight w 180# DB uh-huh Yup

cline is a myth. nothing cline does is real.

^^^ huh. He's not wearing "I'm a badass" t shirt or a hoodie or anything with a skull and cross bones. and oh look he's deadlifting in lifting shoes. And I'll bet he pulled the weight up just fine. my heavens... hell must be freezing over... must get a north face jacket. Okay kids, off to a meeting... the first person who brings up ebola (somebody has already mentioned it today) is getting elbowed. I'm not kidding. I've already invoked my inner Terry Crews once today.

I don't have a problem with expensive gear. I totally shell out the bucks. I don't have a problem with name brand gear. I don't care that UA has football associations. I don't care that lululemon has yoga and running associations. Meh. I don't care that they have good advertising and marketing or slick stores. I just went to mountain hardwear for a coat b/c I've had great luck with their coats AND bc spousal unit has one of their coats and they are repairing it for him. I do have a HUGE problem with 1) athletic clothes as "lifestyle" - e.g. wear yoga clothes everywhere. People will see me as sporty. 2) Buying name brands to be trendy/included - that's why 99% of the people you see are wearing North Face fleece jackets or down jackets. If you want a really damned good jacket - check out LL Bean or Land's End. Shit - they use their jackets on the weather channel. Those are some damned good coats. Amazing coats actually. Oh but sorry, not trendy. They are instead... functional. And effing warm and water repellent and well made. Why? I have oodles of name brand shit in my office right now - ipad, chucks, UA gym bag... stupid iphone for work, other name brand phone, I think my scarf today is from the gap, I think the shorts in my bag are nike or adidas or something, hp computer, ... oh and my new coat! Ha. Vibrams are just another name brand. BUT If I bought them just b/c they are Vibrams or just bc they are trendy or just bc I'm blindy brand loyal ... then that's a problem. I bought them solely b/c I believe humans are meant to be barefoot and I feel the best when I'm barefoot. I'm happiest barefoot. I loathe shoes and socks. It took me two primalcons before I finally decided I'd try them. I'm actually not wearing shoes now. The first thing I do in my office is take off my shoes.

Oh man that rainbow was amazing. I looked for both unicorns and leprechauns and felt mother nature is totally guilty of false advertising. I do hold fast to the notion that there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Some might call it a "barrel of microbrew" but gold nonetheless. Who knew I'd enjoy vibrams so much? Oh, yeah, I did. I just had to buy some. I need winter ones... Idiots and Ebola in the case of modern day USA go together. They do not go together in West Africa UNLESS you want to criticize WHO and others for their idiotic handling of a clear outbreak AND unless you want to criticize all the global forces that believe consumer marketing of products we don't need is more important than global health. AND.... *sigh* I know of people not taking vacations, not flying b/c they are afraid of ebola. Yet they will not get flu shots, they will stuff crap food in their faces (regularly, not once in a while treats), they will smoke, they will sit on their asses for hours on end doing nothing but watching "reality" television.... *sigh* ^^^^ THIS is amazing!

I love that you post these NP pics. They are always so great. The one by the water above is really nice. Everyday your joy about your running and NP group is something that brings me joy. And someday raptron and I are going to sit on the drinking deck (I seem to recall you call it the "disabled" deck or something...) with the PR pig and ass slap all of you as you run by.

I'm still thinking about food.

well, you know me... I'm a fan of do what you love. Sometimes what you love changes and surprises you. That's awesome. That shows so much about you: 1) that you are open to doing different things/rediscovering old things, 2) that you are listening to your own soul and not to the screaming masses, and 3) that you are following a passion (or at least an interest or passion for now). That brings great personal growth, happiness, and development. You are wise. Unless you need to be on the scale, don't worry about it so much. Go by how your clothes are fitting. Glad the nutrition is working out better!!! Huzzah! And camping in the cold is awesome!! I love that crisp morning air that is so chilly you'll drink any hot beverage being poured. I STILL love stuffing my clothes in the bottom of the sleeping bag so they are warm when I get dressed. To be honest, we keep our house downright frosty and if I get up in the middle of the night, sometimes I'll stuff my "putter about the house in the morning" outfit in the bottom of the bed so I can get dressed in bed and be toasty when I hop out. Old old camping secret. Got me through so many mornings of hard core camping. OH! And I still like sleeping with a hat on! Toasty. (although most of your heat does not escape from your head....)

I'm doing a "you gots no boot no more" jig for you! Right now! In my office!

*snort* I'll add "you are hardly epic" and follow it up with ASS SLAP! (however it was a good run even if you lacked the killer instict. Now go back to training and don't stop!)

Oh and get off my lawn. Mmmm I'm getting ready for a nerd date.

Spousal Unit: Oh! A North Face store! Me: no! No. No. It's a fashion store. They have one I'm Philly. Spousal Unit: Maybe I'll go in Me: if you drag me in there, I'll quiz every sorry person in there about a) What is north face & if correctly identified, where is it? I'll ask every damn person. Spousal Unit: Yeah I always forget there's one at home. No need to go. Damn. I was looking forward to putting on a sleeping bag (aka coat) and asking my questions. Sigh. ... I don't hate either brand per se. It's the dumbass cults around them. EVERY woman wears a north face sleeping bag. Why? It's 30 deg. You are Not sleeping in a tent. But a nice coat. Be unique. Nobody thinks you were backpacking in your stupid yoga pants and damned flip flops. The mass marketing of "sporty" drives me bonkers. Take your soy pumpkin frappe latte yoga capri nike shoe wearing north face jacket wearing butt home in your car where you can sit for hours watching tv and reading magazines. If you spent time on a mountain, you'd quickly realize sporty ain't trendy. Sorry sporty spice.

Tin Man FTW! BWAAAAA HAAA HAAAA

*nods and sits silently sipping a beer and looking at the fire*

Most hiking is over now, I believe. Hit a nice couple of hikes day before yesterday. Amazing. Also saw a full rainbow!!! When we slow down and appreciate, we see many things. I did some serious hiking in my vibrams. I've not done this before. My innov8s have zero traction (worn down) and now have a hole from caving. And they were all wet bc well... hole and I went to stand on a river bank that was grassy but it was really grass in the water....damn. Anyhow, vibrams. Hiked a really rocky trail. Interesting. At one point I exclaimed "well, the mud in my shoes makes my feet feel squishy but it's not a bad feeling. Actually, better than wet shoes". So there it is. I love the vibrams. I wear them everywhere. Got a new windbreaker!!! SQUEEEEEEE. I prefer layers in winter to winter coats. I hate coats actually. I really hate the sleeping bags all the women seem to wear. They must be sold with yoga and Capri pants. Make no sense to me. One does not need to wear a sleeping bag. AND I firmly believe that unless you've been to the North Face, you shouldn't wear shit with it stitched on. You don't even know where it is (stop googling... You don't know). Ahem, I have in fact been to the North Face and no, I don't wear that pseudo sports gear. Now get off my lawn. I'm tempted to rant about idiots and Ebola but that takes too much time and energy. I am going to train.

I think the paleo idea - that we've lost touch - is interesting but paleo man hardly spent all his time swinging a hammer at a tire and then going to yoga and then going on a run and then whining how he can't bring himself to clean his apartment or eat vegetables. Someone sent me this today: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/your-money/Envy-is-no-basis-for-financial-planning.html?_r=2 Still on theme. Spousal unit said most people here would take my hiking challenge to say "F U I can do that! Watch me beat you at your game!" Which proves my point.....

This is what I'm trying to say: Imagine you are invited to hike. It's not an epic hike. Nothing about it will or can be epic. You are not hiking to something...there is no destination, no sight to behold, no payoff. Hike in, hike out. You are not going to carry the heaviest load (or any load), you are not going to be the fastest, the strongest, or the most fearless. It's just a hike...no weight, no extra exercise, no racing against yourself or others, no risks. You are not doing it in the dark or in a storm. You are not fasted, weak, injured, or otherwise "overcoming" anything to be awesome. You are not blogging, tweeting, or posting about your hike. Nobody knows. You just hike in, hike out. That's it. It is not epic. It is not amazing. You are not better than anyone else or better than who you were yesterday. Would you go? And if you say "hell yes!", examine the motivation. And if you went, would you feel compelled, in the end, to have an epic experience anyhow, somehow.....?

I think we need to examine motivations and feelings of success. We also need to examine our ability, or lack there of, to just be content. We fill our lives with distractions so we don't have to be emotionally committed to the now. Have two jobs, do two workouts, run errands, watch tv, play video games, etc. This was a lead "article" today (it's really more of a column). The comments are great. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/magazine/why-are-americans-so-fascinated-with-extreme-fitness.html?_r=1

They said this : Because chances are, if you’re in the middle of this cycle, you’re not willing to admit it. At all. In fact, you’re probably pretty angry just reading this article. You probably think we just don’t understand how truly dedicated/devoted/motivated/tough you really are. You probably think that because you’re getting fitter, losing weight, getting promoted, that all your hard work is paying off—and normal people just can’t comprehend what it’s like to have the discipline to work as hard as you. So many people are stress addicts. They can't see it, they think they like it, they claim to thrive on it. Not good.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE Proud of you! (Hint: the thing that excites you is the thing you should be doing)

http://whole9life.com/2012/10/lies-we-tell-ourselves/

Halllooooooo

Date night sounds perfect! Isn't it truly joyous to connect with your wife? The day in, day out distractions keep us from truly just enjoying one another and reconnecting. I love when spousal unit still really makes me laugh, is kind, tells stories, and so on. It is time when we are quiet and truly engaged that we are fully human and living to our full potential. And spousal unit loves the musketeers... Lol.

It is. Totally cooler. And comes with a much higher risk factor. Although there are mountain lions active here...they don't hang in the caves. But bats do. Caving was fun. I had to wear a hardhat and we had to have flashlights. A lot of hard scrambling and some climbing too. Ripped my sneaker on a rock (my innov8... Boo). But better than ripping my body...lol. Several caves. Turned lights out at one point. You cannot see your own hands. Ever. There is zero natural light. Creepy. Oh and we were often the only people there. Topped it off with a outn4 mi hiking, including to a site for vision quests. But yeah, caving definitely ups the cool factor. Scrambling and climbing w a flashlight is tough.

Listen to Ska. Because if there is someone out there having fun, it's him.